Saturday, February 11, 2006

No post yesterday because...

I was KNITTING MY LITTLE FINGERS OFF!!! I'm sorry, I know it's rude to YELL at you all in all-caps, but I really did have quite the productive day. But first, we have some sockers who have been waiting very patiently for their updates.

Kris finished up a lovely pair of Waving Lace socks in a gorgeous Socks That Rock colorway.

Christy knit up some Child's First Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks for her very lucky sister.

Lisa finished her New Englands from Knitting On The Road and managed to get the coffee stain most of the way out (whew!). This is the current sock for the KOTR-along, and I've got my yarn all ready to go as soon as I get past the current craziness...

Abigail finished up a pinky pink pair of Cotton Candy socks that were her training pair for the Olympics.

Hey, no Jaywalkers in that crowd! I love the Jaywalkers, don't get me wrong, but I'm also a big fan of variety. However, since today couldn't go by without a Jaywalker pic, I'll show you mine.I realized yesterday that the Jaywalker Knit-Along prize entry deadline was coming up (it's the 14th), and if I wanted to get in the drawing for all that Socks That Rock, I'd better get my tushie in gear. Not that I'll ever have any chance of winning, since I'm one of those people who never win anything, but I still want to get these Jaywalkers behind me. So I knit furiously on these all day and managed to get to the toe. It should be smooth sailing from here on out, baby! I really could've finished them last night, but then I wouldn't have been able to cast on for my Olympic Shrug during the opening ceremonies last night!

I was a bit skeptical of this whole Knitting Olympics thing. Of course, the most obvious reason is all my looming deadlines. But then there was the yarn (I'm substituting Knit Picks Elegance and hadn't really used it before or swatched at all until yesterday). I did a little swatch yesterday morning, just to see if it was going to work at all. The yarn is small for the needles, so the stockinette swatch was sort of loose. I wasn't sure I was going to like how it turned out. Also, I've kind of been on an anti-Knit Picks kick lately due to discussions on the (yup, you guessed it) Knit Design list. Or not really anti-Knit Picks, just less pro-Knit Picks and more pro-LYS yarn. And then there was the pattern. Was I going to like it?

Well, I was swept up in the excitement of the KO and put down the Jaywalkers at 8 pm so I could cast on for the shrug. Before they showed the opening ceremonies, they were playing some tape of the men's downhill training runs. When I was a kid, I was a fanatical downhill skier. I spent every weekend in winter on the ski hill (granted, I did live in Minnesota so it wasn't much of a hill) and my family took a couple of ski trips out west each year. I was a double-black diamond skier and had Olympic aspirations, of course, but my family didn't have any kind of means to get me a coach or anything like that, or even get me on the race circuit at all. And of course my rinky-dink high school didn't have a ski team. I haven't skied regularly in years but I still love the idea of it and it's my favorite thing to watch during the Olympics.

Okay, that was a tangent and a half... My point was, Bill and I were talking about what incredible athletes the downhill skiers are and having a little argument about whether downhillers (as in, the ones who do that specific race, not downhill skiers in general) or speed skaters have more thigh strength. I threw in a little comment about how I'm an Olympian, too.

As I continued to knit frantically, (with a little help from my friends)(That's supposed to be a look of intense concentration, not annoyance, on my face...) I discovered that I love both the pattern and the yarn. The Elegance is incredibly soft and really nice to knit with. The pattern is nice and interesting. However, it's not going to be the best thing to knit while trying to watch the actual Olympics. I have some plain stockinette that I'm going to work on then. See, I can combine work and the Knitting Olympics!

Here is what I managed to finish last night:That's about half a pattern repeat, and I figure that is the absolute minimum I need to do most days in order to finish on time. I will need to do more on a few days, but I also think I'm going to do one less repeat than the pattern calls for (at least) since I'm not a big fan of super long sleeves. I prefer them to fall a couple inches above my wrist so they don't get into everything. So that will help a bit.

Here is a close-up of the center diamond pattern (this will be much more exciting once the second half is done):And here is the side diamond:Isn't that nice?

And for some reason, I've built up a collection of cute Owen pics! Lest you think I totally ignore Sydney, the reason I don't post many pics of her on here is that she's always running around in her underwear and I don't feel like posting pics of her little Strawberry-Shortcake clad bum for the pervs to find. So until she starts to wear pants more regularly, you won't be seeing as much of her here.

Have you ever seen a baby who sits like this all the time? I haven't, but it sure is cute!I don't remember Sydney ever sitting on her knees when she was this age.

Owen discovered his first cardboard box the other day. I tried to get some cute pictures of him sitting in it, but I wasn't quite fast enough.

Your shrug looks great! I love that color and I've always wanted to knit that IK cabled shrug... well, someday! I've heard really nice things about Elegance, too. Cute pics of the fam! Bossy and Stinky used to sit a lot like that, but then again, we do have that whole Asian thing going on. ;-) Probably genetic or something. That's so cool about your skiing. I've never been, so it always amazes me (and freaks me out a little) to watch those Olympians go for it, no holds barred. BTW, I love that Phoebe line, too. ;-) Take care, Chrissy! :-)

Your shrug is going to be beautiful. I'm such a sucker for cables. Great pictures of your family. My husband thinks the Knitting Olympics thing is a hoot. I bet all our DHs would have a great time together cracking Knitting Olympic jokes.

Cute pictures or you and the family! My girls (ages 16 & 17) don't usually 'let' me put their pic on the internet, going thru a camera shy phase, I guess. My little 10-year-old boy, other the other hand, is cheesy enough to LOVE posing for the camera. So take plenty of pictures while ya can, they're awfully cute.

I love your Olympic project! I'm also doing a shrug, but a much simpler version. Your's with all those cool cables looks great!

Hey, Elliot used to sit the way Owen is sitting in those pictures all the time. It has a name and everything. It's called a "W sit". His OT told us if he didn't stop sitting like that all the time he'd start having hip problems, but he eventually varied his sitting positions. He still sits like that on a regular basis, though! :)

About Me

Welcome to the wild & wooly world of knitwear designer Chrissy Gardiner. I'm a mom of two who spends as much time as possible knitting and designing knitting patterns. I have been published in various books and magazines as well as printing my own pattern line, Gardiner Yarn Works. I published my first book, Toe-Up!, in the summer of 2009. It's about socks, of course!